In his article "If Only We All Spoke Two Languages" published in the New York .
Times the 24th of June 1998, Ariel Dorfman introduces us to a serious matter threatening .
the American society and its impact on the next generations. He gives us a general .
warning to the way the linguistic system's incorporated in the U.S.
Dorfman also reinforces his statement by describing his own experience as a bilingual .
immigrant and the impact due to that cultural shock.
After reading his article carefully it was clear to me that our author was angry .
toward the situation that he was exposed to after he moved to this country. He describes .
the cultural Shock that he suffered from after he was raised speaking his native language .
which is Spanish, and its collision to the English language once his family moved to .
the United States.
Ariel Dorfman contrasts the bilingual and the immersion methods used in .
educational institutions, explaining the differences between them and their impacts on .
children.
First, he starts by disagreeing with the detractors about the bilingual method. Dorfman .
thinks that the bilingual method opens up children to new cultures and way of thinking.
hence the improvement of a child social skills. He says "The bilingual method does not .
imprison a child in his or her original language. Rather, it keeps it alive in order to build .
bridges to English "P (581).
Whereas, the immersion method, Kidnaps the origins and the base constructed by the .
native language of the child. Leaving them isolated from their past and their origin .
culture; Dorfman Quotes:""The immersion method wants youngsters to cut their ties to .
the syllables of their past culture" P. (582). .
Dorfman claims that both methods work because he has been exposed to both .
of them. On the other, the immersion method had a bad psychological impact on him .
leading Ariel to decline his native language savagely and to change him to a monolingual.
